MEDIA, Pa., June 16 (UPI) -- Relatives of a du Pont heir are challenging a will that gives the millionaire's estate to the family of its executor, court records show.
William H. du Pont and Beverly Austin du Pont Gaugger, the nephew and niece of John Eleuthere du Pont, filed documents in a Delaware County court in Media, Pa., asking for a jury to decide whether their uncle was of sound mind when he executed a will about three months before he died Dec. 9, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Thursday.
John du Pont, an alleged paranoid schizophrenic who variously believed he was Jesus Christ, a Russian czar, the Dalai Lama and a top CIA consultant, died while incarcerated for the 1996 murder of Olympic wrestler David Schultz.
The will left most of the approximately $28.5 million estate to executor Valentin Jordanov Dimitrov, Dimitrov's wife, Zdravka Monteta Atanosova Dimitrov, and other relatives who the niece and nephew say had undue influence over DuPont, the Inquirer reported.
The pair claim the beneficiaries hid the new will until after their uncle's death.
Du Pont was found guilty but mentally ill and sentenced to 13 to 30 years in prison for the wrestler's slaying.
The request to challenge the will states no competent evidence indicates the prisoner ever recovered from his mental illness, but rather that his condition had further deteriorated.
Du Pont was a great-great-great-grandson of Eleuthere Irenee du Pont de Nemours, the founder of the DuPont chemical company, the newspaper said.
